


A Forever Within the Numbered Days

by Lady_Cleo



Series: A fault in our stars, a crack in our universe [2]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who RPF
Genre: Spoilers!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-26
Updated: 2014-04-26
Packaged: 2018-01-20 19:47:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1523369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Cleo/pseuds/Lady_Cleo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>my 30th post!! a follow-up to My Thoughts Are Stars I Can't Fashion Into Constellations</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Forever Within the Numbered Days

**Author's Note:**

> the titles of both pieces are from John Green's 'The Fault in Our Stars'

It takes almost three weeks for Alex to stop crying at night, and she thinks the busy schedule and impending change of scenery probably have quite a lot to do with it. Willpower only takes a gal so far, but she needs to pull herself together and start getting over Ma... her heartbreak.

She's been in New York for a week, previewing at the theatre, getting used to the space she'll be occupying for a few months come June. Karen's working on her new project, that _My Fair Lady_ re-do, and has found herself in New York for promos. Therefore, she's demanded that she be allowed to take her daughter out to dinner- and any excuse Alex might put up is shot down by her Scottish ginger stubborn. She doesn't really want to avoid Karen anyway, even it means she'll have to act for a few hours.

Karen texts her the details and messengers over a dress for the occasion. Alex eyes it a little dubiously: a structured black jersey v-neck, three quarter sleeves with shoulder-baring cutouts and a swing skirt, it seems more "hot date" than "friendly dinner." But Karen must've chosen it for a reason, so Alex dons it; she keeps her make-up light, her hair down and her heels low. And her jewelry is kept to a minimum, just diamond studs, a solitaire on a braided silver chain and a slim silver bangle. For some reason, none of her rings seem right tonight, so she goes without. With a final fluff to her curls, she grabs her clutch and heads out to hail a cab.

When she arrives at Café Luna, the maître' d bows low over her hand and leads her to a table overlooking the city. She thanks him, orders a glass of wine and settles in to take in the view. She notices movement in the window glass and smiles.

"There you are. I was starting to worry..." Her smile crumbles and her voice trails off as she turns to face the new arrival and sees someone totally unexpected.

Matt has just sat down, nervously scratching his cheek as he orders a drink. "Hello, Alex."

Her gaze drops to the tabletop, unwilling to let him see the hurt she knows is in her eyes. "What are you doing here?" She takes a modicum of pride in her low, steady delivery.

"I needed to see you. And I didn't think... you'd be quite open to that, given how things ended on the phone so-"

"So you got Karen to do your dirty work for you," she breaks in, taking a sip of her wine. "At least now I know why she was so damn insistent. Nice to know I can count on my friends." Even without looking at him, she feels him flinch at her tone. When he speaks again his voice is quiet but firm.

"But you _can_. You can _always_ count on us. Even if we don't show it, you can trust... us." Now it's his turn to stumble as she pins him with a glare. The pain in her eyes cuts him like a knife to the heart.

"Apparently not, if she's willing to help you... ambush me like this." He's in the middle of forming a reply when she pushes her seat back, the scrape of the chair on the hardwood harsh and unnaturally loud- even if no one else seems to notice.

He's on his feet in an instant, catching her arms in a loose hold and halting her flight. "Alex, wait. Wait. Please."

She keeps her eyes straight ahead, but her tone is cold and angry, even though she keeps her voice low enough to only be heard by him. "Matt, so help me, if you don't let go I won't make a scene- you'll be dealing with a bloody West End musical. Now take your hands off me. _Take. Your hands. Off me._"

When she delivers the command again, her eyes meet his, and his heart flips at the sight of that luminous jade. For a moment he flashes to the bedroom scene from _Womb_ , when he'd had to summon this exact tone of quiet, barely controlled rage and direct it at someone he loved. Odd though it is, the thought gives him a glimmer of hope.

He inhales, fighting the urge to swoon at the scent of her, and starts to speak, not taking his hands off her yet. "Alex I'm sorry. I'm sorry what I said I hurt you, but I'm not sorry I said it. The men in your life weren't good to you, or for you. They didn't treat you right and they let you go when they should've held on for dear life to the _best_ thing that was ever going to be theirs." His grip tightens for just a second in emphasis. "And the fact that you loved them both doesn't mean there is anything wrong with you. There is _nothing_ wrong with you- except that you ever question that."

She doesn't speak, doesn't move, and her gaze has fallen away from his again- but she's not struggling, and when he directs her back to the table, she goes. When he guides her chair back in and lets his hands slip over her shoulders a second, she doesn't flinch. When he takes his seat across from her again, she doesn't bolt.

He draws in a deep breath and lets it out slowly before he continues. "I've been an idiot, Alex. It's been staring me in the face all this time, but I didn't know how to handle this. It was so simple- not easy, mind you, but simple. I should've told l loved you." Her wide eyes snap to his at that, then slam back to the spot her nails are plucking at the tablecloth. He clears his throat and goes on.

"I should've brought you flowers every day. I should've made sure you know how beautiful I find you- not just the way you look but the way you **are**. I should've called more, because even if I just got your voicemail I'd have been hearing your voice and that makes any day better. I should've asked you out ages ago, and not taken no for an answer. I should've kissed you until neither of us could see straight. I should've taken you to bed and not come out for a week."

That tell-tale prickle is starting behind her eyes, and she fights the urge to sniffle. "Matt, please-" Her voice falters when his hand finds hers, the light touch breaking her defenses. His eyes are pleading, serious and a little sad, but with some strange light behind them, like a candle shining through a shuttered window. It hurts to look at him, to have him looking at her like that and touching her so gently and saying such things.

She looks up for a moment, staring at the ceiling imploringly as she fights back tears. When her eyes return to the table, Matt is looking at her with a strange expression. His hand is cupped on the linen cloth, and it looks like he's holding his breath. "I should've just done this."

"Matt, what on earth-?" Her question drops off as his hand lifts, that little dramatic flair she recognizes as pure Doctor. There is a small box of blue velvet, the sort that jewelry comes in. Her breath catches and she thinks maybe it's some kind of trick. She closes her eyes; the box is still there when they open again.

Neither of them says a word, the silence winding around them as the world contracts like a spotlight. There is nothing and no one but them, at this table, in this moment.

Then Matt speaks.

"Alex?"

"Yes?" Her voice is quiet, barely a whisper.

"Will you... please...?"

"Yes?"

"Open the box?"

It's not the question she expected. She can feel the little furrow in her brow as she reaches for the box, its weight surprising in her fingers. She looks up at him again, trying to read something in his expression. Even with his impressive acting prowess she can usually see through him but right now, it's like staring into a deep pool- mysterious and unfathomable.

The box opens, and the light catches the delicate scroll work of the platinum band, the winking of the stunning diamond and the accenting chips of blue sapphire. She swallows against the lump of emotion rising in her throat, and everything turns to a shimmering blur as her eyes fill with tears she doesn't fight. She blinks, her vision clears as twin drops roll down her cheeks. And then she sees it.

Without realizing, she's tilted the box back a bit and the new angle allows light to shine on the satiny lining in the top. Printed on the fabric in blue scrolling script are the words: _Will You Be My Companion?_

One hand presses to her lips as she looks up to find Matt glowing, nearly quivering in breathless anticipation for her answer, but with a tentative open-mouthed smile of delighted wonder she remembers from Who.

"You're... you're serious?"

"As a heart attack, love. Which, in the Doctor's case, would make me doubly so." The look she sends him at that has him hastening to speak again. "Bad moment for a joke. Sorry. I'm nervous as hell right now. But I am totally, utterly, completely, always and forever, cross my hearts serious. I'm really, really in love with you, and if you think you could ever love me too, I'd really, really like to marry you."

"Oh, sweetie," she exhales. She reaches across the table and his hand finds her instantly. "Yes."

He looks ecstatic for a second, positively chuffed, then he leans in close. "Wait. Is that a yes or a yes?"

She giggles a moment, then sobers and pins him with that patented River stare of intensity. "Yes," she breathes out, and the next thing she knows, he's tugged her to her feet and into his arms and he's kissing her so hard the room spins.

_Oh, wait, he's actually spinning me around in giddy circles. Well the kiss is still amazing._

When he finally sets her on her feet and manages to stop kissing her long enough to catch their breath, he cups her face in his hands and presses his forehead to hers. "I'm going to adore you and tell you every day how much I love you. No; every day isn't enough- really any time I'm thinking it, although I wouldn't want to overdo. But I'll show you every day, and you will never doubt anything. Not my love for you, or how amazing and beautiful you are, or-" He stops when she pulls back a bit and he feels her fingers against his lips.

"Two things. One, you forgot one little part of a proposal." He stares at her blankly, his mind racing. Then her eyebrow slides up into that adorable arch and it's like a switch flips in his brain.

"Oh! Right." He reluctantly releases her, fumbles up the box, nearly drops it - she sets her hands into a net just in case - finally manages to get the ring out, and sets the box safely back on the tablecloth. He takes a deep breath, takes her left hand in his right, then looks in her eyes. His never leave hers as he brings her hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to her knuckles as he slides the ring in place. The love she sees there makes her heart swell and her breath catch.

"My dearest Kingston, would you make me the most deliriously happy man on this or any other planet, by agreeing to become my wife? To put up with this face every day, and my clumsy flails endangering your vases and knickknacks, and allow me to interrogate and intimidate any dates Salome brings home... in 5 years? Will you be my companion, in this and every lifetime, until we regenerate into the stars and spend another eternity winking at each other?"

The little sob that bursts out is a happy one, as though her heart couldn't contain her love and happiness another second. "Yes," she says with a nod. "My darling idiot, yes."

He lets out a joyous whoop of laughter and wraps her in his arms once more, preparing to set her world spinning again- when he pulls back with a puzzled look on his face. "Wait. What was the other thing?"

Her arms around his shoulders, Alex tosses her head back giggling and returns smiling, that radiant Kingston grin that makes his heart skip a beat. "Oh sweetie. Shut up and kiss me." Her fingers thread into his hair and tug his head down to her waiting lips.

* * *

Even with the tears, the scene playing out on the screen this time is much different than last time. The TARDIS whooshes merrily as the two people at her console sway in each other's arms. They're making those noises again that tell her they're happy.

River smiles sweetly and presses her lips to the Doctor's neck, tasting the jump in the pulses beating there. She lets out a little sigh as one hand caresses her curls. "Oh, Doctor. I'm so glad they found each other at last."

His lips graze her forehead and she can feel the smile on her skin. "Told you not to worry." He murmurs against her temple, content in the feel of his wife in his arms, the whir of his dear in the background, the rush of a thing set right. Today, everybody lives. Love comes out ahead. For the moment, their work here is done.

He pulls back, holding her hand in one of his as the other goes to the controls. The TARDIS hums, thrilling at the contact and the electrifying love zinging in the room.

"So my darlings, where shall we go this time?"

River's free hand flies to the typewriter and she flashes him an eager grin. "Well, I've heard of this place on Argolis that's supposed to have the _best_ scones..."

**Author's Note:**

> you asked for it, you got it.  
> not quite as inspired as my last piece, but I hope you like it.  
> feel free to comment either way.
> 
> and a tiny nod to hihoplastic; go read "because now is now..." take tissues.


End file.
